I'm a long term Apple fan since the early days. I have two desktop Macs and a laptop. Two are on Snow Leopard and one Lion. I still use my iPhone 3G and have an iPad2. The kit is robust. If Apple change connectors for the sake of it, shame on them. If they do it for performance improvements, power to their elbow. However, 10.7 is slow and bloated - feels like a creaky experiment.

Agree 100%. Above all I question the notion of a "Customer Revolt". This sounds more like one disgruntled columnist looking for an alarmist headline to draw in readers to that he can air his pet peeves. Mr. Feldman you are brilliant. This article is not up to your highest standards.

I am no Apple fanboy, but this article reflects total ignorance of the high-tech industry. Apple is innovating by incorporating advances in technology as they become available in a market that moves at light speed.

The author cites BMW and that "Android phones are getting better all the time." Does the author honestly believe that a new BMW will last forever or that Android phones and related operating system versions will still be current 3, 2 or even 1 year from now?

Pick any high-tech hardware/software combination and a similar argument can be made. Stand still and die in your tracks.

The above having been said, changing the connector is a big deal. Perhaps Apple will create an adapter.

I happened to come into the Apple mobile device environment right before the last cable change and I thought oh GREAT. This is manipulative. Now that I've been using the same cables through multiple generations of iPhones and iPads over five years, so my grumbling days are over.

Apple puts a lot of thought into things like connections; it's in their DNA to do so. So Mr. Nelson's suggestion that there are form factor and/or technological reasons behind this change makes sense to me. I'm fine with this. I just hope that they know enough to manage this transition a bit. As Mr. Feldman points out, they are no longer the only game in town and perception is critical.

Here's what I'd like to see: First, give us a hint why you're changing the connectionand articulate that you don't plan to do this capriciously every year. Second, sell just the cables. That would allow me to swap out just the cables in my home, office, car, and flight bag while keeping my existing plugs.

Third, make one or more adapters that will sit in the iPod docks of our speaker systems, CD players, camera connectors, etc. and allow us to dock the new phone. Perhaps an adapter with a couple of collars. Want to do something really radical and much appreciated? Include the adapter "for free" with the next round of iPhones, iPods, iPads.

Re third party chargers, batteries, etc., if there is proprietary chip at the port but if there is one, then its functionality won't be new. In the past this has been all about Apple's protecting its "it just works" branding by warning about junker devices that were not up to standard. Belkin products, say, never a problem. Apple should not tigthen this policy and they should make it clear that they are not doing so.

If we want a universal standard port, then let's push for one that would make Mr. Jobs excited. (That's a good Turing test for hardware design, no?) When we get something that passes the "Jobs test" then let's put pressure on every mfr to adopt it. For now I prefer Apple's cables to micro USB, which is just too easy to accidentally disconnect.

Finally a word about upgrades. True that some security patches require firmware changes. True that that can slow down the phone. Apple should avoid it where possible and if that means re-architecting then that would be a good idea if they mean to protect their new position of respect in the enterprise.

On the other hand, smartphones are computers. Computers get slower as they are asked to work with new technology. When that slowness becomes an obstacle to working then upgrade the user and hand down or recycle the old phone. Until that point just say "no" or "on your own nickel".

I forgot to tell the folks that my son has been one of the top ten sales people for AT&T and his favorite phone was the Blackberry -- for about a week. He not only worked for AT&T but he was recruited by Verizon and T-Mobile and he was their top salesman, too. So what? Well, he shared with me the popularity and issues with each smartphone handled by these companies. Blackberry -- unimaginative and doomed. Android -- the system that had the most returns, the most difficulties, the most refunds, the most instability.

Apple iPhone -- no issues, no problems of substance. Buy this one and forget about all the hype about android if you want reliability and professionalism overall.

As InformationWeek Government readers were busy firming up their fiscal year 2015 budgets, we asked them to rate more than 30 IT initiatives in terms of importance and current leadership focus. No surprise, among more than 30 options, security is No. 1. After that, things get less predictable.